Socks

Socks

This knitting lark was re started with socks. I hadn’t knitted for years. I think it was maybe 10 years ago when I went through a Rowan knitting pattern phase. I think I was still working in the library then. It is safe to say the knitting needles had been gathering dust. Socks had been on my to do list for ages. Nana (knitting stories always seem to start with a Nana) had knitted the grandkids socks over the years. I still have my first pair. They are very worn. The sole is threadbare but every so often I wear them. I cherish these socks. They were knitted when the pre printed Fair Isle pattern was big. They are blue, white and pink. I love them.

So a couple of years ago I decided to get back into knitting. My idle time previously had been spent manically making Christmas ornaments. When things started to shift and I realised that this hobby/business had run it’s course I was looking for something new to do when I sat in front of the telly. I guess there was another shift starting to happen as well as I was becoming more conscious of my clothing spending habits. I wanted to be a bit more responsible about what I brought and ensure fair trade labour was involved in the making of things I wore. I was also becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that as I was getting older I seem to fall in to a gap when it came to clothing style. Things in shops tended be either way too young or too old. I was somewhere in the middle and not really liking what I was seeing. So I decided to start thinking about how to make my own clothing. It seems this plan was to start with socks.

Over the past couple of years I have knitted a few pairs of socks. Last count there was 12 pairs. The pattern is the same. I purchased it from Purl Soho. It’s based in London and if you ever feel the itch to start knitting socks this pattern is pretty good one to start with. The wool is from Uruguay. From a family run company who place a high emphasis on sustainability and happy sheep. The company is called Malabrigo and the colours are multi and divine, just don’t wash in the machine on a normal wash or the beautiful colours will fade (socks number 2 and 4 meet this fate. Socks number 6 one has gong missing). My favourite part was learning how to turn the heel. I am not the best at sticking to a pattern but while I made a few tweaks or in the knitting world hacks for the most part I stuck to the pattern and as a result I have some pretty happy feet. I went old school and knitted on four ridiculously small needles (1mm) with very fine wool and while the socks are beautiful it would take me a while to finish up these beauties. This was highlighted the other night when the other half commented on how fast I was progressing on my current jumper. Thicker wool and 3.5mm needles make a big difference man. I have moved on from socks and while there is a strong urge to continue making socks and I have collected a number of sock patterns which I wish to knit but for the moment I am going to put my ridiculously small needles aside and focus on a jumper whilst looking for a particularly fine green blue colours sock which seems to have vanished. Aka sock number 6.